


Mother's Child

by on_the_wing



Category: Grimm's Fairy Tales, Our Lady's Child | Grimm's Fairy Tales, Starfighter (Comic)
Genre: Keeler's Pants Are On Fire, Lies, M/M, Still More Lies, Who Oh Who Will Put Them Out, more lies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22120342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/on_the_wing/pseuds/on_the_wing
Summary: Keeler's lies are killing him.
Relationships: Abel/Cain (Starfighter), Encke/Keeler (Starfighter)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	1. The Golden Child

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kapla_Quail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kapla_Quail/gifts).



> Happy birthday to Kapla! I threw this together after our talk about folklore fic--it's a Starfighter-flavored retelling of Our Lady's Child from Grimm's Fairy Tales. I hope it's not a story you hated as a kid. :D
> 
> Just so you know, there is a brief mention of childbirth in the first chapter, although it's not a difficult one.
> 
> For anyone who would like to read the original fairy tale, you can find it here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/grimm/ht02.htm

In a mighty city on the planet Earth dwelt a merchant couple whose keenest wish was for a child of their own. They would have been content with an ordinary child, but what they truly longed for was a golden, gifted child who would go on to do great works and care for them handsomely in their old age. They were not poor, but they were not young either, and they had tried many times without success to produce a child of any kind.

In their city dwelt a fairy who, it was said, could bestow blessings upon a child in the womb that would ensure beauty, cleverness, agility, and good health. One of their neighbors had such a blessed child, and the merchant couple often saw the golden-haired little girl running and jumping and playing, growing more beautiful every day, and every day they heard new reports of her extraordinary accomplishments. 

The couple decided that they must have such a child for themselves, and they sought out the fairy to ask her blessing. “All magic comes at a price,” said the fairy. “To create this golden child, I will need a bag of gold the size of a man.”

The couple exchanged troubled glances, for although they were not poor, neither were they rich, and there was no way for them to obtain so much gold. But they were desperate for a shining golden child such as their neighbors had, and they promised the fairy they would return soon with the gold.

They withdrew their savings and sold their clothes and jewels and furniture, but could only collect a quarter of a bag of gold. They sold their house and shop, and with this they collected a second quarter. They begged their family and friends for money, and collected a third quarter. Three quarters of the bag were full of gold, but the fourth lay empty. 

The wife wept, for their efforts had been in vain. “Do not weep, dear wife,” said her husband. “I have a plan.” With their last few coins he obtained a bushel of sweet corn from the market, and told his wife to shuck the cobs while he cut off the golden kernels with a knife. He poured the corn kernels into the bag and mixed them with the gold pieces. “Surely,” he said, “this will be enough gold to create the child. This gold came from the ground just as the metal does, and its hue is just as bright. Furthermore, this gold tastes sweet, and it will surely produce a sweet-tempered child.”

“I don’t know about this,” said his wife, but she could not think of any other way to get the child. They brought the bag to the fairy, who placed it within a magic circle and bade the wife lie down next to it. The fairy placed one hand on the bag and the other upon the wife’s belly, and chanted a spell that caused both husband and wife to fall asleep. When they awoke, the bag was empty, and the wife could feel a child stirring within her belly.

“You have lied to me,” the fairy said. “Three-quarters of the bag were full of gold, so I was able to bless your child with beauty, cleverness, and agility. But the fourth quarter of the bag contained only corn, which, although sweet, was not enough to create health. I cannot predict the fate of your child, but I fear it may grow sickly because of your deception.”

The couple returned to the house of the wife’s mother, for they now had no house of their own. After a time the wife went into a short and easy labor, and bore a baby with hair like cornsilk. He grew into a beautiful, clever, agile, and sweet-tempered little boy, but he was sickly, as the fairy had warned. 

The couple loved the little boy with all their hearts, but they had given up all that they had to create him and now had no money for a doctor to treat his illness. The child’s grandmother grew tired of living with three other people in her small dwelling, and forced them out on the street, telling the husband that he was lazy as a mule and needed a kick in the ass to make him work. The father went to every shop and factory in town, but there were too many people looking for employment and no one wanted to hire him. He was obliged to stand on the corner outside what had once been his shop, playing an old lute for spare coins while his wife sang and held the child. They barely made enough to buy the child food, much less themselves, and although the boy learned to dance and sing sweetly to help them, he grew sicker every day, and soon he could only lie in his mother’s arms, fighting for every breath. 

One day a tall and stately woman wearing a hooded mantle of blue appeared before the unhappy family, saying, “I am the Mother of all humanity, she who speaks with the stars. You are poor and this child is dying of his illness—let me take him and raise him as my own child, and he will have the best doctors that money can buy.”

The couple agreed, for although it broke their hearts to part with their precious child, they could see that he was dying and needed more than they could give. The next day, the father met an old school friend who had recently returned from the colonies, and the friend hired him and his wife to work for his large and successful merchant company. Although they now had money and a house of their own and would have liked to take back their child, they were kept so busy that they could not care for him, and they reasoned that the Mother of all humanity would doubtless care for him better than any nurse they could hire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're not familiar with Starfighter, "Mother" is a group of women (all mothers) who use alien technology to sense the collective emotions & intentions of the alien race from which the tech originated. They appear to have a leader, but it's a bit unclear.


	2. The Thirteenth Door

The Mother of all humanity took the little boy to live in her high tower where she and her ladies spoke with the stars. He had rich cakes to eat and fresh milk to drink, and his clothes were of silver, and the children of the ladies played with him. He had the best medicine that money could buy, and the best tutors as well, and he soon grew strong and cheerful as well as beautiful, clever, agile, and sweet. His cornsilk hair grew long and lush and wild, and to keep it in order he wove it into a loose braid.

When he was eighteen years of age, the Mother of all humanity came to him and said, “I must now embark on a long journey to treat with an alien race. While I am gone you must keep the keys of the thirteen doors of the planets. Twelve of those you may open, and listen to that which you hear inside, but the thirteenth, to which this little key belongs, is forbidden. Take care you do not open it, or it will only bring you sorrow.”

The youth promised to obey, and when the Mother of all humanity had departed, he began to open the doors of the planets, one each day. Inside the first door he heard the strange, seductive clicking of beetle creatures—a language mysterious and joyful to hear. They spoke of the sweet dark embrace of the soil, the comforting pressure of their comrades’ sides against their own, their bravery in battle, and their reverence for their queen.

Within the second door he heard the low droning song of the ocean abyss, the stark, eerie beauty of heavy depths hidden from the sun. He heard the sonata of hunger, the hunger that sharpened the senses and fueled the burning light that lured prey close; the aria of anticipation; the cymbal crash of mighty jaws snapping shut. He heard the keening duet of longing that slowly merged into one solo voice, undivided, never again alone.

Each day he opened a new door and listened to the unique and exquisite sounds of the planet within, until he had opened all of the twelve. On the thirteenth day, only the forbidden door remained. The youth burned to know what lay behind it, and he said to his companions, “Maybe I will open it just slightly, for a brief moment, so I can find out what lies within without suffering whatever damage our Mother fears.”

“No, you must not!” his companions cried. “Our Mother is wise, and if she forbade this door to you, she must have had a good reason. Remember your promise to her—would you betray her trust?” 

The youth fell silent, but from that time on he could neither eat nor sleep nor study, for he could think of nothing but what lay behind the thirteenth door, whether it be beautiful or terrible or both at once. He lay in his bed tossing and turning, gnawed by the worm of forbidden desire. 

A few days later his companions went out to the city to hear a famous band of traveling musicians that had stopped there to perform. They urged the youth to go with them, assuring him that this band would surely make him forget his troubles, but he refused. As soon as they had gone, he leaped up out of bed and ran straight to the thirteenth door, thinking, “Now that I am alone, I can crack it open for just a moment and find out what is inside.” He pulled out the key and slid it into the lock.

The door opened for him, and within it he could hear the thoughts and secret speech of humanity. Some voices were joyous or contented or brave or kind, but the sounds of pain and fear and shame rose up above them. Mutters of greed, shrieks of hatred, and the deafening silence of indifference poured through his ear directly into his innocent heart. He heard plans shady and sinister, a plot to twist love and fear together to harness power for a corrupt war, and his heart began to pound wildly at his chest as if shouting to be let out. He slammed the door and ran back to his room, locking and barring that door as well, as if it could shut out the terrible knowledge that burned like acid within his breast. 

The Mother of all humanity returned the next day, and called the young man to her to return the keys. She looked into his furtive eyes and asked, “Did you disobey me and open the thirteenth door?”

“No,” he answered.

The Mother listened, and heard the rapid skipping beat of the young man’s heart. “Are you _certain_ you did not open the thirteenth door?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.

She placed her hand upon his chest, and felt the desperate pounding of his heart, the irregular sputtering beat that she had not felt since she had first gathered up the frail little boy and held him close. “This is the last time I will ask you,” she told him. “Did you open the thirteenth door?”

“No,” he lied for the third time.

The Mother of all humanity let out a heavy sigh. “You have disobeyed me, and you have lied to me, and in these actions you have hurt yourself. I can no longer let you stay within the tower of the stars, lest you hurt another, or hurt yourself more seriously.”

Then the young man fell into a deep slumber, and when he awoke he was in a narrow bed in a white and sterile room, with tubes like thirsty snakes running in and out of his veins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know humanity lives on more than one planet, and probably so do the Colterons and Anglers, but I wanted to simplify the door thing, so each “planet” basically refers to a sentient species, no matter how many planets it may have colonized. Let's just assume that there are no nearby planets with more than one sentient species.
> 
> Incidentally I find the original Grimm’s fairy tale hilarious because the Virgin Mary is…Bluebeard? Sort of? And the girl is just so stubborn you have to admire her, even though her stubbornness is mostly panic.


	3. The Hedge of Thorns

The young man languished in this benign but inescapable prison for three years, and then three years more. He wanted to run away, but he was continually held back by the twisting vines of intravenous tubes and the thorns of syringes and the thick hedge of dire warnings. Instead of silver raiment, he was forced to wear a flimsy hospital gown. Instead of sweet cakes and fresh milk, he was given thin broth and dry toast to eat. Instead of his merry, playful friends from the tower, he spent his days with only dour nurses and brusque doctors for company.

He wept bitterly every day, remembering his happy life in the tower of the stars and how the people there had loved him and treated him as a real and valuable person with something to contribute. He wept until he had no tears left. He sat staring into the unknowable space behind the wall, brushing his long golden hair with mindless, methodical strokes.

One spring day, when the faint but agitating aroma of green growing things drifted in from the slightly open window, the most handsome man he had ever seen walked past the young man’s door. He was tall and broad and powerful, and his grey eyes had a look that was stern but kind. “Who was that?” the young man asked the nurse who was giving him an injection.

“That’s the commander’s son, the lead fighter of one of our battleships. People say he’ll likely be a commander himself one day. He’s here to visit an injured soldier. Imagine that! All those soldiers to supervise, and he takes the time to visit one who’s failed in his duty.”

The young man felt a surge of energy and purpose that he hadn’t experienced in years. His heart leaped, but this time it beat strong and steadily, full of determination. He braided his hair neatly as he had done in the old days, and waited for the nurse to leave him alone. 

When it seemed safe to do so, he pulled the tube from his arm and slipped out of his room, quickly hurrying to the supply closet where they kept the sterile clothing for nurses and doctors. He ducked into an empty room to change, and padded down the hallway in his socks until he spied an unattended pair of sensible shoes under a desk. Thus disguised, he strode out into the hallway to look for the commander’s son.

The young man had learned a great deal about the hospital during his years there, so he was soon able to find the room where the injured soldier lay in a coma. He quickly read the chart that hung outside the door, then walked in. The unconscious soldier was a slender, handsome man with golden hair, and the young man could sense that he too had received the fairy’s “blessing.” Much good it had done him! 

He stooped over the soldier to inspect him as a doctor would, and the commander’s son spoke from his chair in the corner. “Do you think he’ll wake up soon, doc?”

“We can only hope,” replied the young man. 

The two of them fell to talking, and despite the lead fighter’s intimidating size and presence, the young man soon felt entirely at ease with him. He learned that the injured soldier was none other than the lead fighter’s partner, the lead navigator. He was a brave and clever pilot who had been injured while saving another soldier from the dastardly claws of the enemy, a loathsome beetle alien. The young man remembered the sweet song of the first door, and frowned. 

“Yes, it’s terrible how a good man can be cut down in an instant,” said the commander’s son, misunderstanding his expression. “We’ll get the bastards that did this, though.”

The young man remarked that he had been thinking that he ought to go do his part to help with the war, and that this story had made him resolved to enlist. The commander’s son answered that they could always use more doctors to help the soldiers on the front lines.

The false doctor said with perfect truthfulness (for once) that he wasn’t sure that the medical profession was for him, and added that he had a great deal of experience studying the stars, as well as in mathematics, physics, and engineering. 

The lead fighter suggested that he try his hand at the navigator’s examination. “I see you have the fairy’s blessing,” he said. “That would be a mark in your favor. Many of our best pilots have it, for it makes for deft fingers and quick reflexes.”

“I’ll do it!” said the young man. “Where should I go to take this examination?”

The commander’s son smiled at his enthusiasm, and told him the location of the military recruitment office. The young man lied that he had other patients to see, and rushed off, lest a real doctor or nurse discover his absence and find him out.

He was in such a hurry that he went straight to the enlistment office without looking for any money or ordinary clothes. Even he, who had been raised in the tower of the stars, knew that soldiers received uniforms and pay, so he decided that it was not necessary to have any things of his own. 

The young man took the navigator examination and passed it with flying colors, and the recruiting officer signed him up on the spot. “You have only to pass the physical examination,” he told the young man, “but that will be a mere formality for you, who have the fairy’s blessing of health.”

The young man was dismayed, for he knew he would fail. He went into the medical examination room and the medic listened to his heart; with great surprise and disappointment he said that it was too weak for work as a common maintenance technician, much less as a fighter pilot. 

The young man begged him to overlook this small flaw. “I play many vigorous sports and my heart has never troubled me,” he lied.

The medic shook his head.

“I must go out into the stars to slay the foul beasts that murdered my family,” he lied for a second time. 

The medic refused yet again.

Finally, the young man tried bribery. “I see you wear a wedding ring. I can obtain a place for your wife among the ladies of the tower of the stars. The Mother of all humanity is my own foster mother, and she will listen to my counsel.”

The medic thought for a long time, and then agreed. “You will need certain medicines to steady your heart and give your body strength. I will give you a year’s supply of these medicines, but after that you must find a way to obtain them on your own.”

The young man thanked him and collected his new gear, and went directly to the spaceport to board the shuttle to the station at which new recruits were trained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Starfighter, the crew of each small fighting ship is composed of an assigned pair of soldiers: the pilot/mechanic is called a “navigator,” and the gunner/bodyguard is called a “fighter.” They room together, receive paired code names, and sometimes become lovers.


	4. The Web of Stars

The young man soon completed his training, and he showed such skill and dedication that after a short time the generals paired him with the handsome commander’s son and gave him the position of lead navigator on a mighty battleship. The former lead navigator had finally awakened from his coma, but although he was expected to recover, his injuries were so great that he must remain in the hospital for at least a quarter of a year to regain his strength.

The young lead navigator found his hands full with his new duties, but he learned quickly and became not only a skilled pilot and mechanic but a wise and kind leader, beloved by the navigators in his charge. He and the handsome lead fighter lived and trained and worked together, growing closer every day, and soon they become lovers.

The medicines were a great help, but the lead navigator’s heart still troubled him. He was often overcome with sudden weakness and palpitations, and at those times he was obliged to hurry away to rest in private where others could not see his debility. The lead fighter could not help but notice that his partner had these spells, but he believed that they arose from worry over his responsibilities as a lead navigator, for he did not know that the fairy’s blessing was flawed.

One day the commander of the battleship brought in a newly recruited navigator and told the lead navigator to keep special watch over the boy, for he was part of a secret project to help in the war against the beetle aliens, and his starfighter would receive new experimental parts derived from captured alien technology. He ordered the lead navigator to keep this information secret even from the recruit himself.

The lead navigator was greatly troubled, for he remembered what he had heard through the thirteenth door, and feared that harm would come of it, although he did not know what that harm might be.

That night as he lay in bed with his lover, the lead navigator had a dream in which the Mother of all humanity appeared before him, saying, “The lies of humanity lead only to ruin. If you tell the truth about the thirteenth door and what you heard within it, no one will be harmed by this plot and you will be welcome in the tower of the stars whenever you choose to go there.”

The lead navigator refused, fearing that if he told the truth, he would lose his position and his lover both. Even if he were welcomed back to the tower of stars, he could no longer live without a purpose to fill his days. The Mother of all humanity shook her head sadly, and disappeared.

The next day the recruit came to him shaking with anger and bleeding from a wound on his face. He complained that his new fighter had attacked him as soon as they reached their room, announcing that the recruit was his property now and must do as he said, and that the wound would leave a scar that would let all others know to whom he belonged. The lead navigator was dismayed and assured the recruit that he would receive a new fighter as soon as one could be found, but the recruit declared that he had had his fill of the military life and was going back to Earth. 

Soon the commander brought in a second recruit, telling the lead navigator again to keep watch over him and tell him nothing about the project. The second recruit had been assigned to the same fighter as the first, and when the boy reported for duty the next day, the lead navigator could see a bandage upon his face, although he made no complaint. The lead navigator’s heart fluttered and battered at his chest like a trapped bird, and he was obliged to leave the room to rest and take his medicine.

That night the Mother of all humanity appeared to him again in a dream, saying, “If you tell the truth about the thirteenth door and what you heard within it, this new recruit will suffer no further harm, and you will be welcome in the tower of the stars whenever you choose to go there.”

The lead navigator refused a second time, and the Mother of all humanity shook her head sadly, and disappeared.

The next day the soldiers conducted a mock battle to hone their skills, shooting at each other’s ships with cannons loaded with soft balls full of washable paint. The second recruit and his fighter quarreled the entire time and in their distraction took several hits, and they continued to shout at each other as they docked in the hangar and climbed out of their starfighter. The fighter grabbed the recruit’s arm and the recruit pulled to get away, and in the struggle he fell from the high wing and was injured so badly that he had to be sent back to Earth to recover.

After a time the commander brought in a third recruit, sternly ordering the lead navigator to keep better watch on this one and, of course, to keep him ignorant of the secret project. The third recruit had been assigned to the same fighter as the first and second, and the next day when he reported for duty, the lead navigator saw a wound upon his face, but although he had cleaned the blood away he had not bothered to hide it with a bandage. 

Perhaps fearing that he might severely injure this third recruit as he had the second, the fighter treated him less roughly, and in time they learned to get along and even seemed to care for each other. They excelled as a team, and the lead navigator told himself that no lasting harm was done, although his treacherous heart rebelled and beat fiercely at the walls of his chest, causing his entire body to shake.

One night the Mother of all humanity appeared to him again in a dream. She showed him a vision of two children playing, a smooth-skinned human child and a flocculent beetle child. They sat in a web of stars and tossed planets back and forth like rubber balls, but suddenly they began to quarrel over a pretty red planet, pulling it this way and that until it threatened to break. “Soon your ship will reach a fortress of the beetle people,” she said, “and many soldiers on both sides will be killed or injured for no good reason. If you tell the truth about what you heard within the thirteenth door, you can stop this from coming to pass, and you will be welcome in the tower of the stars whenever you choose to go there.”

The lead navigator refused, saying that of course men would die in battle, for that was the nature of war. The Mother of all humanity shook her head sadly, and disappeared.

A few days later the ship approached the fortress of the beetle people, and all within prepared for the coming battle. All except for the third recruit and his fighter, that is, for the fighter, having fallen in love with his navigator, repented of his deception and confessed how he had been plucked out of prison and ordered to seduce his navigator in order to activate the alien technology. The navigator was angry, but soon forgave him, and while all the men were asleep the pair took their starfighter and fled toward Earth.

The lead navigator, who could not sleep, saw their ship depart and knew what must have happened. He knew that if they reached Earth they would tell the people everything, and he also knew that the commander would shortly discover their absence and send their former comrades to shoot them down. He thought a moment longer and realized that as he already knew about the shady plot, it was likely that he himself would be the one ordered to carry out this murder. He would, of course, be obliged to bring along his sweetheart the lead fighter, who knew nothing of this and would be told that the couple were traitors who had stolen vital information to bring to the enemy. The lead fighter had a kind heart and might balk even at executing traitors. He would doubtless try to persuade the couple to return of their own free will, thus making himself vulnerable to attack.

The lead navigator’s heart began to beat so hard that he fell upon the floor in a faint, startling his lover from sleep. The lead fighter, upon finding his navigator unconscious, gathered him up in his arms and hurried to the medical bay. 

The secret of the lead navigator’s illness could not be kept now, and when he awoke the commander was at his bedside. “You have deceived us all and endangered your men,” he said, “and after this coming battle you will be thrown into confinement until we reach Earth, where you will be placed on trial.” 

“No!” cried the lead fighter, but the lead navigator hushed him, for he did not want his sweetheart to be jailed as well. A new strength filled his heart, and once the commander had departed, he confessed all his secrets to the lead fighter, from his parents’ deception of the fairy to his belief that the commander would murder the third recruit and his fighter. 

The lead fighter was not happy to hear that his navigator had lied to him, but he loved him so much that he quickly forgave him. The two of them summoned their most trusted men and told them of the commander’s treachery, and all of them agreed that he must be stopped immediately. They stormed the commander’s office, disarmed his guards, and threw him into the very brig in which he had planned to imprison the lead navigator. 

They turned the ship around and headed back to Earth without attacking the beetle fortress. When they arrived, they found that a truce had been forged with the beetle people, a truce which would not have been possible if the battle had occurred as planned. 

Two great trials were held and the mutineers were exonerated of all charges, but the commander and his powerful co-conspirators were sentenced to many years of prison for their crimes.

The lead navigator went to the tower of the stars and begged to see the Mother of all humanity. When she appeared before him, he immediately confessed that he had opened the forbidden thirteenth door. She smiled tenderly, and said, “He who repents his transgressions and admits them is forgiven.” 

From that day forth he and the lead fighter were welcome in the tower of the stars whenever they wished to go there. The man's heart grew strong again, and even though his health was not always good, he and his lover lived long and happy lives together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In canon Keeler appears to be unaware of Project Thebes, but I don’t believe for a minute that he knew nothing about it. Who gave Abel the new parts for his ship? Who oversaw him as he installed and repaired them? He must have been suspicious at the very least.
> 
> Flocculent = fluffy or woolly, so the "flocculent beetle child" looks like a huge vaguely humanoid woolly caterpillar.
> 
> I just want to make it clear that I do NOT think that love means you have to forgive quickly (or at all). What I DO think is that Abel and Encke are suckers. :D
> 
> Also, to be clear (although this is less important), the commander's son is the son of a different (female) commander of a different ship, so he's not tossing his dad in jail. :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Blue Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22294657) by [Kapla_Quail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kapla_Quail/pseuds/Kapla_Quail)




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